League of Women Voters suspends public-access show

After 11 years of educating county voters on public-access channels, the League of Women Voters says it has “run out of material” and will suspend its thrice-weekly interview show.

However, says Adele Stern, who has been with the production since its inception, the show will be back for election season next year.

Stern, 80, said the league has interviewed 200 people during 215 shows on Channels 2 and 21.

The goal, she said, has been to explain government to the layman. She and her fellow volunteers have spoken with elected officials, emergency personnel, the sheriff, and many others. They even had a media panel that included The Tribune’s Bill Morem, she said.

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The league opened the show to everyone. During elections, they had on representatives of the county’s several minor parties, including Libertarian, American Independent, and Peace and Freedom, and gave each as much time as Democrats and Republicans.

Stern said there have been amusing and not-so-amusing moments.

One tense moment occurred, she said, when some school board members who were being recalled stuck angry fingers in her face and walked out when she did not give them as much time as they wanted to make their case.

Stern also recalled the time when she realized the camera was shooting her and her guests below the waist, instead of only above the waist as she was accustomed to. She dressed informally below the waist, and was wearing running shoes that night.

Mortified, she asked her husband about it after the show. He told her he hadn’t noticed, she chuckled, because the young woman she was interviewing had on a mini-skirt.

“It was a good run,” Stern said. “We had a good time with it, and we think we did some good.”